I had a great opportunity i to spend a few days getting to see Minnesota’s timber and paper industries from start to finish. From a timber camp outside of Hill City to huge and innovative paper plants and lumber mills in Grand Rapids, Bemidji and Cloquet, I got to see a tough industry that has gone through some very tough times and survived. More important, I met some incredible folks who made it happen – who care about this generation and the next.

We did some great work for the industries in the 2013 Session, providing needed funds to ensure supply of good timber and extending sustainable forest tax credits to help the industry stabilize. Of course, there is more work to do — work I am committed to doing.

]]>http://paulthissen.com/2013/09/25/minnesotas-timber-and-paper-industry/feed/0Duluth News Tribune: A Thriving Middle Class Will Put Minnesota on Path to Successhttp://paulthissen.com/2013/09/05/duluth-news-tribune-a-thriving-middle-class-will-put-minnesota-on-path-to-success/
http://paulthissen.com/2013/09/05/duluth-news-tribune-a-thriving-middle-class-will-put-minnesota-on-path-to-success/#commentsThu, 05 Sep 2013 23:33:52 +0000Paul Thissenhttp://paulthissen.com/?p=5712
A­ News Tribune editorial on Aug. 29 (Our View: “Don’t die in Minnesota — it’ll cost too much”) left out important information about a new gift tax the Minnesota Legislature passed this year as part of our balanced budget. Most importantly, the editorial reached the wrong conclusion about the best way to grow Minnesota’s economy. A thriving middle class, and not multimillionaires alone, is what is needed to put Minnesota on the path to success.

The editorial failed to mention who will pay the new gift tax: those fortunate Minnesotans who have the wealth to give away more than $1 million. This point bears repeating. The first $1 million in gifts any Minnesotan makes may be transferred tax-free.

That said, we all value the hard work and innovative thinking that contributed to the success of so many Minnesota multimillionaires. We want them to stay here and continue their contributions to our state. That is why the larger argument made in the editorial was so disrespectful to the vast majority of successful Minnesotans who stay and enjoy Minnesota’s high quality of life into retirement.

The editorial repeated the unsubstantiated claim that the multimillionaire gift tax will lead Minnesotans to flee our state in droves. At the editorial board’s urging, I reread the Center for the American Experiment study that was relied upon to reach this conclusion about “tax flight.” The study actually acknowledged that “people move for all sorts of reasons,” including (in the case of Minnesota) warmer weather. That is confirmed by a host of other economic studies showing that tax rates have little correlation to migration patterns. This is all part of the myth often trumpeted by those seeking to protect the wealthiest special interests that the way to grow our economy is from the top-down instead of from the middle-out.

Let’s also acknowledge that people who can give away more than $1 million have not been suffering over the past decade. Since the recession ended, around 100 percent of income growth has been captured by the top 1 percent. Instead, it has been the vast majority of Minnesotans in the middle who have paid more. Cuts to schools, higher college tuitions, property tax increases, and more out-of-pocket health-care costs are the direct middle-class pocketbook impacts resulting from choices our state made over the past decade while protecting the very wealthiest Minnesotans.

The good news is that in the last session we made a change. We chose a more balanced approach, including asking the wealthiest Minnesotans to pay a little more. As a result, we made significant progress, and middle-class Minnesotans will reap the benefits.

We balanced our state budget without gimmicks such as borrowing from schools, and already our state’s credit outlook has been upgraded due to our state’s “strong fiscal management.”

We invested in education at all levels, including all-day kindergarten for every Minnesota child. We know a world-class work force will help Minnesota’s economy thrive in the future, and our investments will help put our kids ahead of the curve.

We froze college tuition for students. After a decade of tuition hikes and mounting debt, Minnesota college students and families will receive needed pocketbook relief.

We reduced property taxes for Minnesota families. Property taxes are projected to decrease for the first time in a decade, thanks to the property tax-relief measures we passed in this budget.

Opponents to the budget we passed are free to argue against a multimillionaire gift tax. But it’s only fair they argue that tax-free multimillion-dollar gifts are a higher priority than property tax cuts for middle-class Minnesotans, more education funding for our kids, or tuition relief for our students. It is a matter of priorities. This year, our priority was investments for a stronger middle class, and we in the Legislature believe Minnesota’s economic future is stronger because of that choice.

In the week leading up to the beginning of the 2013-14 school year, Rep. Thissen traveled the state speaking with educators, parents and students about significant new investment that the 2013 legislature delivered for Minnesotans. From Duluth, Grand Rapids, Bemidji and Moorhead to St. Cloud and Willmar, Minnesotans were thrilled with the progress. As noted in the West Central Tribune: “Educators across Minnesota are pleased with the Legislature’s move to pay for all day, everyday kindergarten, and they appreciate the overall increase in education funding.” In Grand Rapids, Mike Fall noted that he was on the school board in Walker 25 years ago. And the hot topic of conversation 25 years ago was all-day kindergarten. All-day kindergarten will begin state-wide in the fall of 2014.

]]>http://paulthissen.com/2013/08/25/back-to-school-education-tour-early-childhood-all-day-k-and-frozen-college-tuitions/feed/0Rep. Thissen Rallies with Cretex Workers in Shakopeehttp://paulthissen.com/2013/08/04/rep-thissen-rallies-with-cretex-workers-in-shakopee/
http://paulthissen.com/2013/08/04/rep-thissen-rallies-with-cretex-workers-in-shakopee/#commentsMon, 05 Aug 2013 04:37:59 +0000Paul Thissenhttp://paulthissen.com/?p=5695“Corporations and the wealthy are getting richer and the middle class is stagnant,” said House Speaker Paul Thisssen, DFL-Minneapolis. “We’re going to stand with you through all of this . . .”

SHAKOPEE – Arturo Sanchez is accustomed to working outside in all kinds of weather, making concrete products at Cretex Companies. He didn’t mind the hard work, he said, because he was earning a decent living and putting money into a pension plan for the day he would retire. With video!
Watch video of the rally

Now Cretex wants to take that money and convert the workers’ secure, union-based pension plan into a 401(k) worth much less. That prompted Sanchez and some 40 other members of Local 563 of the Laborers International Union of North America to walk off the job seven weeks ago.

On Tuesday, hundreds of people – including top lawmakers and LIUNA President Terence O’Sullivan – gathered outside the Cretex plant to show support for the workers and their fight for retirement security.

Members of Laborers Local 563 picketed outside the Cretex plant in Shakopee Tuesday.
“These workers did the right thing – they put money away for their retirement out of their raises,” said Tim Mackey, business manager for Local 563. “We’re not going to let them [Cretex] steal our money.”

The crowd included hundreds wearing bright orange LIUNA t-shirts and members of other unions sporting their colors. On a nearby rail line, members of the United Transportation Union blew their horns in solidarity as they passed.

Negotiations broke down June 18, when Cretex failed to budge from its demand to eliminate pension contributions and slash the workers’ retirement package by roughly 80 percent.

Workers like Sanchez, who have less than five years of seniority, would lose all the money they had put into their retirement. Older workers, who had planned to retire from the physically taxing work, would be forced to stay on the job longer under the reduced benefit, the union said.

The top leaders at the Minnesota Legislature addressed the crowd and urged Cretex to treat the workers fairly. They noted that the company has been doing well financially and benefitted from the hard work of its employees.

“Corporations and the wealthy are getting richer and the middle class is stagnant,” said House Speaker Paul Thisssen, DFL-Minneapolis. “We’re going to stand with you through all of this . . .”

Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, issued a stern warning: “My message to the executives at Cretex is ‘We are not turning back the clock on workers’ safety, on workers’ benefits – not now, not ever!”

LIUNA President Terence O’Sullivan O’Sullivan said this fight to protect retirement security is being watched closely. “The outcome of this strike, this fight in Minnesota, will have an impact across the country,” he said. “Losing is not an option. We’re going to stay strong.”

The union is urging people to call Cretex CEO Lynn Schuler at 763-441-2121 “to let him know that Minnesota workers deserve better from a Minnesota-based company.”

The union also is raising funds to support the strikers. O’Sullivan presented the local with a $25,000 check.

Alex Ocampo said he appreciated the support and the contributions will come in handy in the next few weeks as he gets his son and daughter ready for school. Most of all, he hopes the company decides to return to the bargaining table with a proposal that shows it values the work performed by him and his co-workers.

“It hurts,” Ocampo said of the company’s actions that forced a strike. “I don’t see a reason why they should do this.”

]]>http://paulthissen.com/2013/08/04/rep-thissen-rallies-with-cretex-workers-in-shakopee/feed/0DFL Leadership Moved Minnesota Forwardhttp://paulthissen.com/2013/06/10/dfl-leadership-moved-minnesota-forward/
http://paulthissen.com/2013/06/10/dfl-leadership-moved-minnesota-forward/#commentsTue, 11 Jun 2013 03:41:31 +0000Paul Thissenhttp://paulthissen.com/?p=5677After Minnesotans elected DFL majorities in our State House and Senate last November to work with a DFL governor, many people asked us what they could expect in this legislative session. Our answer was: Progress.

First, however, we had to extract our state from the deep fiscal hole left to us two years before. This February forecast projected a $627 million budget deficit for the next two fiscal years, beginning July 1. It meant that we were again behind before we started.

Despite the financial obstacles, we crafted a balanced approach to righting the state’s fiscal ship, then moving it ahead. It is the first state budget in a decade that actually balances honestly, and without resort to accounting gimmicks.

As important, our budget starts looking beyond short-term crises and further down the road. We are building a better Minnesota by investing in priorities shared broadly by Minnesotans.

For that reason, we invested more than $735 million in education, from preschool through college. As a result, every Minnesota child will soon have access to free, all-day kindergarten. Parents who were paying thousands of dollars to send their kids to all-day kindergarten won’t have to pay a dime. Thousands of children whose families couldn’t afford those costs will now receive the substantial academic benefits of full-day learning. And those schools that have been diverting other funds to offer kindergarten will be able to use that money for other needs.

Our budget ensures that thousands more young learners also will be able to attend high-quality preschool and child-care programs. Early learning scholarships will save families up to $5,000 per year, per student — and our state will take a big step forward in narrowing its achievement gap.

After a decade of steep tuition increases, students at the University of Minnesota and Minnesota State Colleges and Universities campuses will benefit from tuition freezes for the next two years. And more than 100,000 State Grant Program recipients from low- and middle-income families will receive additional financial aid to pursue their higher educations.

By improving our elementary and secondary education systems and making higher education more affordable, we can continue to offer businesses the country’s best workforce and give Minnesotans the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in this global economy.

But with thousands of Minnesotans still unemployed, we also took bold action this session to help put our state back to work. We made major investments that will provide thousands of good-paying jobs. They include major expansions by Mayo Clinic, 3M, the Mall of America and others that will create thousands of construction jobs and thousands more for operations. Those public investments will leverage billions of dollars in private investment in our state’s economy. We also increased the incentives we can offer new or expanding businesses to choose Minnesota.

And we paid for these investments honestly and progressively. The very highest income earners and some large corporations will pay more in taxes. Except for smokers, middle-class Minnesotans will pay the same state income or sales tax rates while realizing the benefits from $441 million in additional property tax relief, which reverses the property tax increases that resulted from the previous Legislature’s policies.

Moving forward, Minnesota still faces many challenges. But the work we did together this session — the work Minnesotans elected us to do — has made the state better. We did what we promised, and we believe Minnesotans from all walks of life will be better for it.

————————–

Mark Dayton is governor of Minnesota. Paul Thissen is speaker of the House. Tom Bakk is Senate majority leader.

]]>http://paulthissen.com/2013/06/10/dfl-leadership-moved-minnesota-forward/feed/0Washington Post: A Conversation with House Speaker Paul Thissen on Gay Marriagehttp://paulthissen.com/2013/05/15/washington-post-a-conversation-with-house-speaker-paul-thissen-on-gay-marriage/
http://paulthissen.com/2013/05/15/washington-post-a-conversation-with-house-speaker-paul-thissen-on-gay-marriage/#commentsThu, 16 May 2013 03:04:47 +0000Paul Thissenhttp://paulthissen.com/?p=5668Following the passage of the historic marriage equality bill in Minnesota, Speaker Thissen was interviewed by the Washington Post. You can read the full interview here.

A conversation with Minnesota House Speaker Paul Thissen on gay marriage
By Sean Sullivan, Updated: May 11, 2013

Minnesota is poised to become the 12th state to legalize gay marriage after the state House signed off on it Thursday on a 75-59 vote. The bill is expected to pass the state Senate next week and Gov. Mark Dayton (D) has said he will sign it.

We spoke with state House Speaker Paul Thissen (D) about the bill, what it took to win passage, and what it means for the larger debate.

FIX: Walk me through your Thursday. When did you figure out you had the votes to win passage?

PT: We felt we had the votes to pass on Tuesday when we called the vote. And I’ve got to say, it was a much more emotional debate for me than I thought was going to be. It was a pretty powerful three hours.

FIX: What made it an emotional debate?

PT: A couple things. A lot of the speeches people made. It was a very serious and respectful debate befitting the gravity of the topic. But also, just all the faces in the crowd, and just thinking how this is going to really change the lives of so many people in Minnesota and seeing them in the Capitol as we were taking up this vote. Those two things together.

FIX: Did you know that you were going to get some Republican support when you called this vote? (Four Republicans voted for it.)

PT: No. I did not. I had an inkling we might, but we didn’t call the vote until we knew we had the votes on our side.

FIX: What did it mean to have Republican support?

PT: I think it’s hugely significant, because it shouldn’t be a partisan issue. And nationally, it’s really not. There are so many Republicans across the country that do support moving in this direction. And so what that means, for the state, for the conversation we’re having, is that it has moved beyond being a partisan issue to being an issue about Minnesotans and their freedom and equality. And I think that’s hugely important.

FIX: How has Minnesota gone from being a state that last year proposed a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage to a state that is now on the verge of legalizing it?

PT: I think because the strategy the folks adopted to defeat the amendment, which is really a strategy of going out and talking to people and engaging people in conversations about what this really means, made a huge difference in how people thought about it and talked about. It personalized the issue for people … and it was one of the examples where it really did change people’s hearts and minds.

FIX: When you first started this process, how confident were you that gay marriage could be passed and be signed into law?

PT: Earlier in the session? I wasn’t particularly confident at all that we would get there. I mean, I wasn’t un-confident, but i just didn’t know. We really adopted a similar approach to the campaign, within the legislature, which was engaging in individual conversations with members and having them talking to their constituents. Never saying, ‘you need to vote for this,’ but really kind of talking through the issues — the meaning of it, the politics of it, the importance of it, and what it could do for Minnesota. And everybody just kind of got to this point on their own.

FIX: What do you mean by that?

PT: It was every individual member searching their own heart, talking to their constituents and coming to the decision to support it on its own. And so it wasn’t that we were going to take up this bill no matter what. We allowed the individual members of the House to get there. And I think that kind of process made a big difference.

FIX: Minnesota is set to become the 12th state to legalize gay marriage. What’s the significance of this in terms of the larger debate taking place across the country right now?

PT: Two things. Clearly the momentum is picking up in this direction. I think just that is what you are seeing in other states as well as Minnesota. I also think it’s very significant though that Minnesota is the first state in the middle of the country, or at least in the Midwest, to have a legislature make marriage equality the law in that state. And so it’s not just kind of an East Coast/West Coast phenomenon. I think the significance of Minnesota’s vote is it makes it truly a national wave and movement.

Leaning his lanky frame over his office table, the tip of his tongue resting lightly on his upper lip, House Speaker Paul Thissen studied the remarks prepared for him to give to the Minnesota Agri-Growth Council.

Included was a small joke to share with the agriculture community, already skeptical of the Minneapolis representative. Thissen swiftly nixed it. The extra-introverted speaker said he tried a joke in a speech once — “Nobody laughed.”

Thissen has little time or inclination for the chummy warmth that has colored the leadership of speakers past as he tackles serious, high-stakes challenges.

Among them: a tax bill passed by the House on Wednesday that is starkly different from those proposed by the DFL-led Senate and DFL Gov. Mark Dayton, with its surcharge on the wealthy and the first liquor tax increase in a generation. Next week, Thissen will personally round up votes for a controversial bill to legalize gay marriage that would leave a lasting imprint on Minnesota — and which could cost him his majority.

The House has changed hands three times since 2009. To retain power, Thissen must satisfy the party’s urban core without alienating rural DFLers while still protecting swing district suburbanites. In doing so, he has staked out positions on a higher minimum wage, higher taxes and spending priorities that are at odds with Dayton and DFL Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk of Cook.

As he looks for consensus and compromise, Thissen doesn’t schmooze and doesn’t twist arms.

He relies instead on a coolly intellectual, fact-based style that has brought him a Harvard degree, partnership at the prestigious Lindquist and Vennum law firm, and a political seat second in power only to the governor — all by age 46.

Thissen makes no apologies for a manner that even those who know him best describe as reserved.

“The caucus right now is looking for someone who is going to be more about getting the business done,” said Thissen, who helped turn a 62-member minority into a 73-member majority in the 2012 elections.

His preference, as always, is to get straight to that business.

“Most people know ultimately pretty much where they are going to end up,” he said. “It just takes a long time to get there. I would rather just get there.”

Message, not personality

Even his fans acknowledge that Thissen is a different kind of speaker.

“He does not put his personality out there,” said Rep. Deb Hilstrom, DFL-Brooklyn Center, a strong Thissen ally. “It is about the message and it is about the work that we are doing here. It is not about him as a person.”

Asked about himself, Thissen laughs. “I’m Minnesotan,” he said. “I’d rather talk about someone else or something else than myself.”

That doesn’t mean he’s a pushover.

Thissen can be blunt with others, telling legislators respectfully — but in no uncertain terms — when their needs fail to line up with his priorities or when agency requests are in doubt.

While he shares some goals with the Senate and governor, Thissen has not been afraid to move the House in a different direction, proposing a stiff increase in the cigarette tax, making repayment to K-12 schools a high priority and pushing for direct property tax relief to homeowners.

“There are not a lot of differences,” Thissen said. “But where the differences are we have a popular position on stuff, and that helps.”

Bakk doesn’t see it that way. “The popular thing is not always the right thing on taxes,” he said. The Senate tax plan features a sales tax on clothing and an income tax hike that reaches further into the middle class than does the House or Dayton.

Thissen has been willing to mix it up on other fronts, too.

He purposely put Minneapolis Rep. Jean Wagenius, an ardent environmentalist seen as hostile to the farming industry, in charge of the environmental and agriculture budget plans. Rural interests were outraged. He met repeatedly with agricultural interests to soothe hard feelings but stands by his decision. He notes that in the aftermath, warring interests have been more exposed to the others’ perspectives.

Thissen, along with House Majority Leader Erin Murphy, moved to cut $150 million from health and welfare programs, stunning interest groups that thought their day had finally come. At one point, Thissen’s own Health and Human Services Finance Chairman, Tom Huntley of Duluth, threatened briefly to quit his post over a proposed cut. Thissen said he understood the hard feelings but said he needed to put “the head above the heart on that.” Huntley remained, but so did the cut.

Former DFL House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher calls the speaker’s post “the hardest elected job in the state.”

Thissen, she said, “has a lot of members to balance and he also has this relationship with the governor … and he has to manage that.”

Republicans have seen another side of Thissen.

“He seems like he is very much into the policy and putting his own personal fingerprints on all of the policy, which is probably a difficult thing to accomplish,” said House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt, R-Crown. “I don’t know if he is going to have the best results trying that. You can’t control everyone, and you can’t control everything.”

Rep. Greg Davids, R-Preston, said the Thissen-led House has gone out of its way to muzzle the minority, even imposing a new requirement that requires floor amendments to be filed in advance — a move Davids said stifles debate.

“They can do anything they want to, just go by your own rules,” Davids said.

Pressure builds

Moving through long days at the Capitol, Thissen swigs Diet Cokes, at least a half-dozen daily. His calm belies the high caffeine intake. DFL Rep. Joe Atkins of Inver Grove Heights said that in the 10 years he’s worked with Thissen, he has seen the speaker angry only once, and even then there was no yelling.

When Thissen’s not herding DFLers, he’s helping to squire his three children — ages 9, 11 and 14 — through their busy lives. His typical week is littered with their activities — play rehearsal, piano practice, soccer, clarinet lessons, drum lessons, basketball and hockey — interspersed with Thissen’s own high-level meetings with business groups, legislators and activists.

Many of those meetings have been on perhaps the most delicate issue the House faces this session: whether to legalize gay marriage.

Bakk, confident the Senate has the votes for legalization, has said he will let the shakier House take up the issue first.

That has focused all eyes on Thissen, as he broaches the topic with one DFLer after another.

Thissen says he is consciously trying not to “impose a vision” on how members should vote. Instead, he asks, “What are you thinking about? What are you hearing? What are you feeling?” Then he listens.

“He never puts on any pressure,” said Rep. Jay McNamar, a DFL freshman from Elbow Lake who is on the fence about his vote. “He always lets you make your decisions. And you know what? That’s admirable.”

Although he is not keeping a detailed list — this week he was caught unaware when DFL Rep. Kim Norton removed her name from a civil union alternative to marriage — Thissen said he talked to 20 members whose votes on same-sex marriage have been in doubt. Even so, he remains unsure he has the 68 votes needed for passage.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I really don’t know.”

With other political leaders, saying “I don’t know” could be a ruse, but allies say that’s not how Thissen operates.

“I think it’s easy to see legislative leaders as being game-players and dealmakers. … I think you would be misreading Paul Thissen if you saw him as somebody like that,” said Rep. Ryan Winkler, DFL-Golden Valley.

Thissen said the outcome should satisfy Minnesotans.

“The end product, even though things will be messy along the way, will be a good product for Minnesotans,” he said. “And that, I hope, is what they will judge us on.”